Sweet nyc....

We are back from a fabulously fun anniversary trip to nyc. All went well with the kiddos at home (thanks again mom and dad!). Joe and I walked the city all day, every day exploring and taking in all that we could. I took over 250 pictures and have decided to break them up into posts by topic, beginning with dessert. What a fitting way to start. New York certainly has an edge to it, but there are also bakeries abound to indulge in the various sweets of the city. The first being Ferrara's, not far from our hotel on the edge of SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown. The French and Italian desserts were yummy!!

We stopped there for pastries on the first day and here is our breakfast on the last day.We took a stroll through Chinatown right away and came across the Double Crispy Bakery with these goofy Hello Kitty desserts. So kitchy! Here we are giddy to be away, having fun, together.
We happened to pass Magnolia Bakery at a very off time (it was Thursday night at 8:30 pm) when they weren't busy at all. I stopped in for a wonderfully sweet and buttery treat!
We also popped into Dylan's Candy Bar which oozed sugar from every square inch. Even the floor and the stairway. The colors were amazing. What a fun place!

Saturday morning we ventured out in the cold to Billy's Bakery.

Small, quaint little place with tons of charm and old fashioned flair.

So that's my little tour of the sweets of the city. They were definitely memorable.Stay tuned for much, much more....

Off I go...

Joe and I head to nyc in the morning. We're celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary there. My parents will be with the kids while we're gone.

THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!

Photo from LavenderBakery.

I grabbed a few fun new books from the library for the plane ride. These are gorgeous!!

Also have the new Red Velvet kit for a mini book of our trip. Thanks, Rachel! Totally inspired by Teesha's journaling on the road.

Photo by Rachel Denbow.
I will be thinking of you all and promise to take TONS of pictures.
I won't be in blogland until next Monday. See ya then!

Birds, burlap and missing the bellas...

Thinking of all the bella's tonight in Omaha, having a ball at the vendor fair. I've been hitting some fabulous estate sales here in my neck of the woods, so I thought I'd have a little vendor table myself. hehe! I've updated my etsy shop yet again with some great vintage supplies. Not everything in the pictures is listed. I have to keep some of the gems that I find! If an order is placed before Tuesday, it will be shipped out then. Otherwise orders placed after the 18th will be shipped the 24th after I return from nyc. THANK YOU for the wonderful suggestions for my trip. My list of 20 has grown substantially. Can't wait to show you pictures of our adventures.

Check out all the goodies HERE!

20 things...

We leave in a week for nyc.

I'm starting to compile my list of what to see:

-Central Park

-Dylan's Candy Bar

-Magnolia bakery

-Pearl River Mart

- ABC Carpet and Home

-Wall Stories at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum

-Metropolitan Museum of Art

- New York Public Library

- Tinsel Trading Company

- Le Carrousel at Bryant Park

- Anthropologie Rockefeller Center

-Kinokuniya Bookstore

-Empire State Building

-See the holiday windows of Macy's, Saks, Bloomingdale's and others

-Junk in Brooklyn

-Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

-Find a photobooth

-NY graffiti and street art

-Cross the Brooklyn Bridge

-explore Chinatown

.....Anything else I should add?

"to go anywhere, everywhere. to quickly pack a bag with what first comes to mind. the essentials: a good book, an excellent pen, three different cameras and a tube of lipstick. to let go of tomorrow and feel the plane scream into take off. to be in an unknown place, if only for a couple of days. where the food tastes different and the words sound different and people wear bright-colored everything. to throw out the maps, the itineraries, to wander for hours and hours for no other reason than to see. to collect scraps of paper, bits of conversations, to look through the lens again and again. to piece it all together and tell the kind of story that deserves a title. I have been dreaming of this."

Love this sentiment from hula seventy and her nyc flickr photos here.

Update complete...

I just finished my second installment of my Vintage Christmas Flea Market etsy update. This one has more of a holiday party theme. Come join in the fun!

It's all HERE.

Party time!

Surprise shop update!

Since we seem to have officially began our six months of winter here in Minnesota and have already seen a few days of freezing temperatures, I've spent quite a bit of time inside this weekend. I thought I'd get out my holiday craft stash and take a look. I was so excited about these, I suprised even myself with an etsy shop update. Check it all out HERE! I'm doing an early holiday update, because many of the items are supplies that can be used in your holiday crafting. These vintage freezer boxes are so retro cool and I filled them with vintage trim.
This amazing vintage stamp set with the best font and images.
A whimsical collection of mini santa's, and of course mr. and mrs. clause.
These metal cones were a find in the middle of summer. I knew I would be excited about them when I brought them out again.

If your a collector, or just a big fan of faun (which seem to be red hot this holiday season!) these vintage Gurley candles might be right up your alley.Check out these and many other goodies here.

Edit: Just added....

The vintage "Bella Boot" stocking. Too fun!

Friday smiles...

I thought I'd end the week on a lighthearted note, with two smile-worthy pictures on this grey Friday morning. First, we got to make our first snowman of the season this morning. The snow is gone now, but the kids were over the moon about building this little guy! Secondly, this crazy cool carousel dress that Katy Perry wore at the MTV Europe Music Awards by Manish Arora. Indeed, a work of art.
Have a great weekend!

Mood of the day...

These are the colors I'm seeing outside today. It's cool and overcast and wet...with snow in the forecast. Doing a few pages (below) in my inspiration journal in the palette was both soothing and inspiring.

Looking ahead....

There are so many art retreats to choose from these days. Some involve international travel and many are held all around the US. I have been fortunate enough to travel to Omaha, Nebraska for Silver Bella the last two years. This year I will be missing this fabulous event. My husband and I celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks, so we're headed off to New York City on the 19th for a trip, sans kids. I cannot wait! I will certainly miss seeing all my blogging pals in Omaha. Can't wait to hear all about it.So I have decided my retreat for the winter will be ArtNest, hosted by the lovely Julie Collings and Candice Elton. I had the pleasure of getting to know these amazing talents at Silver Bella the last couple of years. I am excited to be snuggled in a cabin in the mountains of Utah come February with some of my favorite artsy friends. The teaching line-up is fabulous as well. Jane Wynn, Mati McDonough, and Kelly Rae Roberts. Good stuff! Anyone else planning on going?

Election day letter...

I woke up today, and decided to write a letter to my children. I wanted them to know what the world was like when they were young. What this day was like...

Dear Lowell and Chloe,

Today is historic, November 4th, 2008. You are 3 and 5 years old and it is a historic day any way you look at it. Either Barack Obama will become the nations first African-American president, or John McCain will become the oldest president elected to a first term and his running mate, Sarah Palin, will become the first woman elected vice-president. People are coming out in record numbers to vote, to voice their opinion on something that is really, really important. I’m already teary with emotion and it’s only 6 am. I am writing this before dawn as information already floods in about how long the polling lines are.

The 2008 race for the White House has been going on for 21 months and people are engaged. It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage -- and withstand -- political attacks. What it has given people, is a sense of hope. It has also brought to the surface a lot of emotion and some outrage. People are ready for change.

When you are older and reading this letter, you will know what the outcome of this election meant for our country. What progress was made. You will know how the war ended with Iraq, and how our nation got out of this terrible economic condition that we are in. What I hope that you will see is how people listened to their hearts, got involved and made a difference. What a changed world that can make.

I Love You,

Your mommy

Edit at 10 pm: What a moment. What a country we live in!

Welcome November..

I know we're a few days into the new month, but after a three month build up, I needed a little "down time" after the big day. Hope you all had a great Halloween. How do you make the switch to post-Halloween hunkering down? As always I first change my studio/dining room space.

My decor has changed from orange, black and white of Halloween to a palette of brown, cream, black and gold. Love the deep berry hues of this time of year. Warm, cozy comfy colors when the weather starts to cool down.
We're still enjoying our autumn walks and have been surprised to have such mild weather. As you can see below, with Chloe in a sundress, it was 70 degrees yesterday, while the average high is normally 48...yikes!! This won't last long, by the end of the week we're supposed to be there. Since I've shown you so many pictures of the gorgeous fall leaves, I thought I'd share what the trees look like now. Pretty bare.

Check out Mama to Mama: Connecting Families Through the Gift of Handmade. Such a very, very cool project and brand new blog. Created by Amanda Soule , "as a space in which we can gather and share information about how our families can connect through handmade action. Ways to use our crafting energy to create a little bit of good in the world, beyond our front door, beyond our families and out into the worldwide community of mothers. Mothers who all want to keep our children safe, most of all. I'm not suggesting that making a simple hat can change the world in an instant, nor that it's all we should be doing, but it's baby steps, friends. Baby steps and little moments that we do have the opportunity to make a little bit better for someone else." Check it out!

Happy November.